


Scavanger

by PinotPurple (orphan_account)



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Gore, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Original Character(s), Primal Regression, Statement Fic, The Flesh (The Magnus Archives) - Freeform, The Hunt (The Magnus Archives) - Freeform, The Slaughter (The Magnus Archives) - Freeform, avatar concepts, corvid avatar babey, episode 160 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22198861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/PinotPurple
Summary: Statement of... a corvid.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Scavanger

Statement of... a corvid. Statement given to the Archive, date unknown, in a manor formerly owned by the Lukas family in the Scottish Highlands.

Statement begins.

I don't remember my name. I don't use it anymore and now I kind of forgot it. It's not very useful. The soldiers call me “you”, “hey, you”, “dear”, “dearie”, “crow kid”, “kid”, “kiddo”, “dipshit”... I don't think I ever told them my real name. I never thought of doing it and they never asked so...yeah. I don't know their names either. Sometimes I don't understand what they are saying, even if they are talking in English. It's a little scary, I admit. But it doesn't bother me as much as it probably should. Nobody talks much here anyway.

I don't remember much about my life before this. I think I was happy. I lived with my mum and dad. We lived outside a village and we were poor. I remember I hated school. I started it a few years ago. I kept falling behind and my parents couldn't afford everything that was needed. My teachers didn't care they couldn't and my classmates were all bullies. This girl, Rebecca, would call me an “animal”, because I smelled. My mum would tell me she and dad used to have it even worse growing up and that when I felt sad and tired, to pray to God. I prayed that Rebecca would drop dead. I couldn't wait for weekends and holidays so I could stay at home. I only liked mum and dad, they were the only people nice to me. I loved working on our little farm, looking after the chickens and Petunia. And I loved our crows so much! There was a murder of them living in the trees along the main road in front of our house. The trees are kind of old and dying and are usually bare, and the crows fill them up. At first glance it looks like the leaves are weirdly dark, and then they all fly up at once in the sky, like a dotted tidal wave! It looks _awesome_! I fed them and they perched on the roof of our house and along the fences. They let me pet them and they ate from my hand. They brought me scraps and little gifts! They brought me buttons, pebbles, beads, colourful glass shards, bottle caps, parts of chains, wires... Once one of them brought me a coin! They came to my window and inside my room when I called them and I talked to them. I couldn't understand them back then, but I pretended I did. Mum, dad and I talked so much to them they started mimicking our voices, it was so cool!

This apocalypse started a few days after mum and dad bought a TV. It was so exciting! When it started I was at home, while my parents went in town to buy groceries. I stayed behind because I wanted to finish watching a cartoon. I was watching the last minutes of it, when I felt chills all over. I felt sick, everything felt wrong. The images on the screen started distorting and the sound was all weird. I turned off the TV, but then it was too quiet. I looked out the window and the sky was looking back at me. I pulled the curtains and hid in my room.

I tried to call my parents over and over again. I tried both of their numbers, but nothing. They wouldn't answer or the line wouldn't work. Sometimes it answered but it would be a scary voice or growling or static on the other end and when I looked at the phone, the number I dialled was a different one, even though I checked ten times that I typed it right. I was too scared to go outside. Whenever I looked out the windows it would be worse. I could not see where the main road led in the distance. The trees were darker and taller and spindly. The air smelled nasty or was too cold to breathe. The chickens' pen and the Petunia's stable were completely silent. My crows weren't anywhere. Mr Gibs' farmhouse, on the horizon, was gone, just vanished. The sky would occasional go dark for a moment when it blinked. It was like a cloud passing, but it would go as dark as at night. People would pass on the main road but they were all wrong. They'd come up to my door and knock, or look through the windows. I'd hide in cupboards and under the couch. One of them had ants crawling all over him and this lady wobbled from left and right and her eyes looked dead, it looked like she wasn't looking at anything. At night I'd hear shouts and singing and whistling.

I don't remember much from that time before leaving the house. I think I spent most of it in my room, crying and praying that my parents come back until I realised it wasn't working. When I built up the courage to open a window and saw that my crows have returned, I was running out of the food left in the kitchen. A man with three arms and five legs broke the kitchen window and ransacked my fridge. Asshole. I covered the window with a cutting board.

My crows would bring me scraps of meat and I ate them on the spot, raw as they were. I was so hungry. After a while I didn't even register is was raw or old or rotting, I just ate it. They were chewy and pretty bland. One time they brought me an eyeball and I ate it up, I didn't even think about it. I popped it with my teeth and it spilled out my mouth. It felt so gross, but the taste wasn't unbearable. I don't remember what kind of eyeball it was, if it was human or animal. I don't think it matters. I talked to my crows a lot. They comforted me and promised to stay with me. They told me about the forests nearby, of the cities they saw from above, that there were people out there that wouldn't hurt me. They haven't found my parents and they were sensible not to use imitate them. Maybe they forgot their voices too.

I remember hesitating a lot to open the front door and pass the threshold, expecting something to be on the other side. Once I passed that obstacle, I didn't feel so scared of the world anymore. My village was abandoned. Some houses were turned to rubble. I saw one house, Mrs Carlmichael's, black with ask but the other two houses it was put between were fine. I found Rebecca lying on the main street. She looked like she had been running away from something when she fell and didn't get up. The ground around her was dry, but her hair and clothes were soaked. I pushed her head with my foot and water fell out of her throat. I left her there. I'm sure she would have tasted bad. I checked the grocery stores, even the ones mum and dad didn't go to, but they were empty and licked clean.

My crows were always with me. They led me to where someone or something died and we'd all eat it together. A few times I was the one who found it! I felt safe with them, even in open fields and in the woods at night. I'd sleep by a tree and they'd cuddle by my neck and head. There were so many of them. I don't think I ever counted them, now that I think of it. They'd attack something that attacked us and overpower it, peck it until it fell over and I'd hit and bite it along with them. It didn't happen often. I don't like fighting, it's easier to look for something already dead. I ate them tearing with my teeth and nails. No matter how many crows died while defending us, the number seemed consistent. I _never_ eat dead crows.

They fly by me and above me and I follow. I wish I could fly in the sky together with them. I can keep up with them on foot, but I wish I could, you know? In my dreams at night I am a crow like them, but with human eyes and teeth inside my beak. Sometimes I am a magpie or a blue jay. Did you know blue jays are corvids? I didn't up until that dream! Screaming like a jay was a lot of fun. I fly with them, close to the Eye in the sky. I tried to reach it to peck it but it was too far away. In the dreams I can eat without feeling full, I can take a peck of every thing I come across without being injured of getting sick. All I care about is finding food and eating and I noticed I feel like that during the day too. During the day I go to where I saw a corpse in my dreams and sure it enough it is there and we can feast! Different monsters taste different, you know? My favourite ones are the ones that have extra limbs, because there is more to eat for everyone. Bug-filled ones are pretty good too, but the bugs are usually still alive and they don't like being chewed. There are fire people that burn others to death and their meat is kind of cooked, but I don't like it as much. I don't really like normal food anymore. Meat is enough.

A few weeks ago I heard the song for the first time. Whenever I heard it, corpses would be found with ease, so the crows and I followed it. The army is pretty cool too. They were from all sorts of eras. I saw both WWI uniforms and ancient armours. Leading them was the really scary man with three faces and lots of arms. He looked like an Indian god. He was tirelessly playing a flute, as if he didn't need to breathe. I kept my distance from the army, but they didn't bother to even look at me so I started getting closer and closer, to the point of walking right next to them. They'd glance at me, then continue looking forward in their march. I saw a lot of women soldiers! There was a lady with a big skirt and with her boobs out, holding a musket. She speaks French! The army gets into fights with other monsters. One time they fought a huge amalgamation of limbs and mouths. It was very tasty.

I'd sit down near them when they stopped to rest. There's a boy who looked like he's only fourteen years old. He came up to me and asked if he can pet my crows. He has such a sweet and polite face, you would never imagine he sliced through that meat monster like a madman. After that the other soldiers started actually talking to me. They told me stories about what the world was like in their centuries, how they became soldiers under the Piper – that's the name of the big scary man that plays the flute. I could hear him too, but usually when they where fighting, which meant I could eat soon, which made me very hungry in anticipation.

I found this manor a few days ago. I walked ahead, checking out this really pretty forest. I like being in forests. I like listening to the birds talk with each-other. They talk with me sometimes, wondering what I am doing there, who am I, what am I. I found the manor hidden among the trees. It was _huge_ , I'm surprised no one else found it until then. It was completely empty. I have no idea who are the owners or where they are. It's so big it takes forever to get anywhere. The rooms are really far from each-other and it's so quiet inside. It could fit the entire army! The Piper was very happy with my discovery and declared that I can have my own bedroom, with a bed! I still share it with other soldiers, though. I really like sleeping in a pile. Lots of the soldiers don't like sleeping alone. They say that there's safety in numbers. I think it's weird, you know? They're so scary, but are scared of sleeping alone. They also really like my crows, and some of them took some as pets.

And then you two arrived! You can stay here if you want! I'll talk the others in letting you stay. I'd give a longer statement, but I don't really have much else. That's about it. I'll tell you more if something happens!

Statement ends.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3  
> 


End file.
